SWINDON Wildcats had Chris Jones to thank on Sunday night as Leeds Chiefs almost completed a remarkable turnaround in Solihull – one of Chiefs’ temporary homes.

Wildcats led 5-1 with 34 minutes on the clock at Planet Ice Solihull as goals for Tomasz Malsinski, Aaron Nell, Tyler VanKleef, Floyd Taylor and Chris Jones helped the visitors establish a comfortable middle period lead.

Chiefs were boosted when they clawed a goal back at 36.17, but no one could’ve predicted the fightback Leeds staged in the final period.

Cats’ three-goal lead vanished in 14 frantic minutes of National League hockey, and Nell’s troops were forced into overtime for the second time in the space of a week.

Wildcats repeated their overtime heroics from just a week ago in Milton Keynes as Jones bagged the all important winning goal to keep the Link Centre outfit’s title hopes firmly on track.

Nell said: “Leeds are doing well at the moment, so we’re very happy to pick up another four-point weekend.

“The rink at Solihull was a lot better than what I remembered, to be honest. We were in a comfortable position and threw it away in the third, but picked up a big goal in overtime.

“It’s tough to stay calm in overtime situation, we just knew we had to score.”

Victory on Sunday night confirmed another four-point weekend for Wildcats after Sheffield Steeldogs were beaten 7-1 at the Link Centre on Saturday.

Focus now switches to a massive National Cup semi-final second leg tie against Telford Tigers on Wednesday, where Swindon hold a three-goal lead from the first leg.

Nell added: “

“Wednesday is a big game, and we’re all looking forward to it.

“A three goal lead doesn’t get you anywhere, we’ve got to go there and try and win the game. We’ll be confident because Telford are the best team in the league, so we have to be.

“They will play a smart game, and we’ll be going all out to win.”